Having arrived into Utrecht onboard an ICE International service, I headed to my hostel to check in, freshen up and most importantly have a nap. Staying at the BUNK Hostel a stones thrown from Utrecht Centraal station, it was just a few minutes after getting off the train that I was checking in.

With a rare spare Saturday available to us, we decided to venture out for the day and, with cheap LNER tickets available, a trip to Leeds was decided on. Whilst Leeds is a city I’ve travelled to by train numerous times, I’ve never actually stepped outside the station and so was excited to see what Yorkshire’s largest city had to offer.

Whilst Normandy has plenty of destinations for day trips, our location in the west of the region meant we were not far from the border with Brittany and only an hour or so from the Breton capital, Rennes. Deciding to take a day to explore the city, we made a relatively early start and drove to the outskirts, planning on heading into the centre using the city’s metro.

Having based ourselves in the south-west corner of Normandy for our holiday, we were able to explore plenty of the region, with the occasionally foray into Brittany. Whilst these day trips were all thoroughly enjoyable, none were really long enough or in-depth enough to justify their own blog posts and so this post covers seven extra places to explore whilst in Normandy

Caen, the capital of Calvados and the second largest urban area in Normandie, is famous for being the historic seat of the Dukes of Normandie, including William the Conqueror, as well as being the centre of the Battle of Caen during the liberation of France in WW2.

My visit to La Rochelle last month (July 22) was split over two days, with a short time before I caught a train to Nantes and some time when I got back before flying home. Unfortunately, the timings meant I didn’t have a great deal of time to spend in La Rochelle, however I did fall in love with the city and will definitely be returning.